


Flowers and Fiances

by AuthenticallyAlia



Category: Phan, Youtubers, dan and phil, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Japan, Japhan, M/M, Marriage Proposal, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 07:31:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7258273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthenticallyAlia/pseuds/AuthenticallyAlia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil are boyfriends in Japan and end the day by becoming fiances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers and Fiances

Dan and Phil had been in Japan only a few days, and they were loving it. The people, the culture, the colours of the buildings, the cherry blossoms, everything was so amazing to them. Dan knew they were probably acting like generic Tokyo tourists, but he didn’t care. He had wanted for ages to come to Japan on holiday, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Everything about it was like a dream, and better yet, he was with Phil. Him and Phil had done nearly everything together for six years, and Dan didn’t want this trend to end any time soon. He couldn’t imagine this trip being any better.

At present, the two were wandering around a park, their interlocked hands swinging between them. Phil was taking as many pictures as he could of the cherry blossoms, and they even got a few selfies that turned out well. He made a mental note to post those online later. Dan couldn’t help but think how cute Phil was when he got excited. At one point, Phil saw a gigantic cherry tree, bigger than any they had seen before, and he ran over to it, pulling Dan along with him. Dan tried to act irritated at first, but then ran alongside Phil and began laughing. Phil looked back at him and grinned. They got to the tree and both leaned against it, breathing hard.

“That was a bit longer a run than I expected,” Phil said.

“Yeah, but you were _expecting_ it,” Dan teased. He smiled at his boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek.

“Remember when we told everyone we were gonna start running?”

“Haha, yeah I do. We tried, but I guess we’re not really the type to keep that up.”

Dan decided to sit down on the grass. They had been walking for a while now anyway. Phil sat next to him. They chatted for a few minutes, then Dan saw something that caught his attention. He touched Phil’s shoulder and pointed.

“Look, Phil, over there,” Dan said. Phil turned. It was a wedding.

Dan loved weddings. They were so sweet and positive. Dan was a sentimental person, so celebrations of love and happiness that weddings symbolised seemed so perfect to him. He listened to the music as the woman walked past the chairs to her partner, who was smiling broadly. Dan smiled without thinking, happy at the scene before him. This reminded him that he had been planning on proposing to Phil on the 19 October that year. It would be the sixth anniversary of them meeting in person for the first time, as well as the day of their first kiss. Dan’s romantic side knew it would be a wonderful way to propose to Phil. Phil liked the little sentimental stuff.

“Weddings are so cool,” Dan said.

“I don’t know,” Phil responded. “I like the idea of them.Big weddings in cathedrals seem a little superfluous to me. I mean, why would someone spend that much money on something that’s only symbolic? Gay people have been getting on a long time without it. It doesn’t seem necessary. People can show love to each other without a big expensive ceremony.”

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. But it’s more like a proclamation, like you’re telling everyone ‘I will be with this person forever.’ It doesn’t have to be about the ceremony, really, ” Dan said. He hadn’t expected Phil to say that. He knew Phil wasn’t a person for big occasions, but he hadn’t expected the wedding thing. Dan tried his best not to look disappointed. Maybe later they could talk about a compromise on how they would marry. After Dan proposed, of course. Maybe they could have a small indoor wedding with only their closest friends and family, with their music playing and a small dance afterwards. That wouldn’t be superfluous at all. Dan would be happy with any sort of wedding, as long as it was with Phil. Phil was good at the little meaningful things, like thoughtful gifts and always knowing when someone needed a hug. “Hey, let’s keep walking, I think I see a butterfly garden over there.”

“Oh, cool!” Phil responded.

The two stood up and held hands again, resuming their walk. They talked and laughed, enjoying the scenery. Dan even found an iris garden and picked one, bowing and handing it to Phil.

“For you, my prince,” Dan said as he bowed theatrically, giving Phil the indigo flower.

“Thank you, sir,” Phil responded, playing along. He took the flower and tucked it behind his ear. “How do I look?”

“The colour suits you,” Dan said, smiling pleasantly. Phil laughed and picked one for Dan.

“You have to match,” Phil said. “It’s a couple thing.”

Dan obliged and put the flower behind his ear. “Now we’re like a pastel dream.”

“We should take a selfie, to remember?” Phil asked.

“Definitely,” Dan pulled out his phone and set up the selfie. They both smiled, and Dan took a couple pictures. Phil moved in the middle of one, which confused Dan. Phil knew better than to move in the middle of a picture. Dan instinctively turned to look, and Phil kissed him. Dan’s eyes widened in surprise, then closed as he melted into the kiss. They kissed for a long time before Dan broke the kiss to take a breath. Their faces were so close, he just loved the way the different colours of Phil’s eyes mixed together. It was so easy to see from this distance. Blue, green, and yellow. They mixed together like a kaleidoscope. “Well, look who’s a romantic?”

“Always will be,” Phil said, grinning.

Dan lowered his arm to look at how the pictures turned out. Phil stood beside him and watched. Dan saw that he had accidentally taken pictures of the kiss. Looking at the pictures, he could see the idea come into Phil’s eyes and then Dan’s surprise when Phil kissed him. He would definitely be keeping these pictures. It was like a flipbook.

“Those turned out really well,” Phil said. “Even though I interrupted the original pose. Your face right after I kissed you was hilarious.”

“Shut up, you surprised me,” Dan giggled.

“I could tell.”

Dan blushed and grinned like an idiot. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Later, as sort of a finale to their eventful, touristy day, they decided to go up to the Tokyo Skytree. They had heard it was gorgeous at night. With Duncan and Mimei as their guides, they arrived at the skytree. Dan looked up.

“Oh my god, Phil, we’re going to the _top_ of that.”

“Wow. Who’s idea was this?”

“Yours.”

“Well, I think past me was insane.”

“I agree.”

“Are you ready to go up?” Mimei asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Dan responded.

“Yeah,” Phil said.

And so they went. The lift had a glass top, so they could see all the way to the top of where they were headed. A few seconds after the lift began ascending, the lights all the way up to the top of the tower turned bright blue. Everyone in the lift “ooooh”ed. It was a mix of pretty and gut-churning to watch the world slowly sink beneath them, even if they were watching through the scaffolded walls of the tower. At one point there was an opening in the walls and the whole expanse of Tokyo could be seen. Dan felt his stomach drop and Phil grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. Then, the view was gone.

“You gonna be okay?” Dan said quietly to Phil. Phil wasn’t deathly scared of heights, just a little more than Dan, but anyone would have been unsettled by the view that had been before them.

“Yeah, I should be fine, that was just...very sudden,” Phil breathed.

Phil kept one hand firmly held onto Dan’s and the other stoically placed in his jacket pocket. Dan wondered if his hand being in his pocket made him feel less queasy about the height. His mind wandered and he looked up, mesmerised by the brilliant blue lights passing them by. Dan saw the top of the tower, and it grew closer until the lift stopped and the doors opened into a room that looped around the elevator in a full circle. The outer walls were completely glass, and there were a few spaces on the ground that was glass, so one could see all the way to the ground, two thousand feet below. Dan filmed him daring Phil to jump while standing on one. Phil did and immediately hurried off the glass panel. Dan, Phil, Duncan, and Mimei laughed. After they explored for a bit and played with the touchscreens that were spaced out around the room, Duncan and Mimei split off from the group. Dan assumed they walked off to do the same as Dan and Phil: have a romantic moment looking out across the city. Phil led Dan near to the edge, though Phil wouldn’t get any closer than about a metre away.

There they stood, hand in hand, looking out at the lights that were like stars spread below them. Bright intersections like Shibuya looked like galaxies amid the thousand of stars in a sea of darkness. It was like the world had been flipped upside-down, as much of the lights made the real stars all but invisible. Dan, however, turned his head away from the beautiful sight and watched Phil. Phil’s bright eyes reflected the lights so it looked as if his eyes held the universe. The pale light from inside the tower and out illuminated his face so his hair shone and face lit up. This brought to mind a distant memory which seemed so far in the past, yet almost like it had happened yesterday.

~~~~~

It was December of 2009, a few months after the two had met. Dan had gone to visit Phil for a few days during the winter holiday. They never wanted to leave the other person’s side, they had spent so much time blocked from so many things by a computer screen and distance, all until a few months before that. They never wanted to have that problem again, which, as Dan remembered fondly, was why Phil had asked him to move in in the first place. And why they still did so much together, even now. Somewhere in both of their minds, they remembered how frustrating it was to be separated, to not be able to give the other a hug or a kiss when they’ve had a bad day. They were practically already married, as their fans had pointed out.

On the snowy December night, they were walking beside each other through the heavy snow, holding hands. They wandered through an abandoned hospital then they lay in the snow beside each other, cuddling for warmth. Back then, with less viewers, with fewer cameras on them when they went outside, they could be as couple-y as they wanted without worrying about being seen. So together, they watched the stars as they were covered by clouds then visible again. Dan only watched the stars for a few minutes before his eyes wandered back to Phil.

 _It’s actually him,_ Dan had thought to himself, still amazed that they were together, touching, holding hands. _It’s Phil, my boyfriend._

They were on the edge of any cities, so the stars were very visible. Dan watched Phil and saw the thousands of stars reflected in Phil’s eyes, a content look on his face. Then Phil had noticed and looked at Dan, smiling.

“What’re you looking at, bear?”

Dan blushed. “Uh, it’s just--you’re really cute. I like looking at you.”

“Well I say you’re adorable,” Phil grinned, and Dan smiled.

~~~~~

Dan sighed contentedly and looked back at the city. How beautiful this man was, how lucky Dan was to have him. Phil rested his head on Dan’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around his waist. Dan put his hand on Phil’s waist, pulled him closer, and kissed him on the top of his head, suddenly feeling incredibly sentimental. They stood there in silence for a few minutes, happy to just be close to each other as they took in the universe in front of them. It was Phil who finally broke the silence.

“Hey Dan,” Phil asked, his voice quiet. Dan detected apprehension in his partner’s voice. After living with him for three years, Dan could sense things about Phil’s mood by his tone and body language. Their friends called it mind reading. Dan called it paying attention.

“Yeah, Phil?” Dan said, matching Phil’s volume.

“Will, um,” Phil began, putting his hand in his pocket again. “Do you want to get married?”

Dan stopped breathing for a solid ten seconds. His arm fell away from Phil’s waist, and he turned to look at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Phil removed his hand from his pocket. In his hand was a small velvet box. Dan felt his eyes get wet and he smiled as Phil opened the box. Inside was a silver band embedded with red, blue, purple, and white gems. Dan, shaking, turned the ring in his fingers, and noticed an inscription on the inside.

_To the most fun we’ll ever have._

Dan put his hand over his mouth and sobbed.

“Is...is that a yes or no?” Phil asked nervously.

Dan, unable to speak, tears streaming down his face, nodded furiously. Phil beamed and laughed, then kissed Dan all over his face, ending with a long, passionate kiss on the lips. Phil took a break to breathe, then Dan was kissing him and they were both laughing.

“The-the, uh, colours of the gems are meant to show our lives,” Phil stuttered. “The red is you, because of the book, and because that’s what it always comes to when we have to choose colours, and I’m blue. The purple is supposed to be our combined lives, and the white, the diamonds I mean, are to symbolise the potential we still have and how we’ll live up to it together. And when we get married, we can, er, we can have the date of our wedding engraved next to the quote.”

Dan put the ring on his finger, grinning like an idiot, his eyes still watery. Then, he hugged Phil tightly. He mumbled something that Phil didn’t hear.

“What, Dan?”

“You _spork_ , you beat me to the punch. I was gonna propose on our anniversary.”

“Ha! Take that,” Phil said, hugging Dan and kissing him more. “I think a six year long relationship is enough to say it’s time to finalise it, don’t you?”

“Unless you’ve got any weird habits you’re not telling me, I am confident you will be a great husband.”

“Dan, I do have something to admit…”

Dan stopped smiling. “What is it?”

“I’m actually a cannibal.”

“Oh, come on, Phil!” Dan said, poking Phil in the ribs.

“Hey, no fair! You’re not as ticklish as me!” Phil giggled.

“Is too fair you just scared the shit out of me,” Dan laughed, then sighed contentedly, looking at the ring, now on his finger. “I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.”

Phil nodded. “I love you, Dan Howell. So much.”

“And I love _you_ , Phil Lester. Even more.”

“That’s impossible.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This fic was requested by @araneedsalife on tumblr. It was fun to write, even though it took me a month to finish :P All my fics are on here, though my tumblr links aren't working at the moment, so reading from here is the best bet. My requests are always open if you want me to write something specific! My tumblr is @lalondelester if you need it. I'll upload again soon, hopefully!


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